The government’s Digital Inclusion Action Plan marks progress, but leaders warn inclusion must be “baked in, not bolted on” to end digital poverty.

Last Get Online Week, we spoke with Dr Emma Stone from the Good Things Foundation about the growing digital divide in the UK. Back then, the focus was on the lessons of the pandemic and how millions were still missing out on online opportunities. A year later, the context has shifted. 

In February 2025, the UK Government launched its Digital Inclusion Action Plan, promising a national framework to tackle digital exclusion. The plan set out five key actions, including better measurement, new innovation funding, a device reuse charter, and stronger support for digital skills. The Good Things Foundation (GTF) welcomed the move as a milestone but warned that digital inclusion must be “baked in, not bolted on” to government policy.

Despite progress, millions remain offline or lack the confidence and resources to take part in digital life. The latest Digital Nation 2025 report from GTF paints a stark picture: around 7.9 million adults in the UK still lack basic digital skills, and 1.9 million households struggle to afford mobile or broadband access.

These numbers are not just statistics. They represent families unable to apply for jobs, people missing out on online discounts, and individuals excluded from vital services. For those on low incomes, the cost of staying connected can be a heavy burden.

During Get Online Week 2025, the question remains: are we closing the gap, or watching it widen?

What’s new: the 2025 Action Plan

The Digital Inclusion Action Plan organises government effort around five priority actions (local support, skills, devices, inclusion in digital services, evidence & measurement) and four medium to long-term focus areas. Notably, it commits to partnering with the Digital Poverty Alliance on a government device donation scheme. The plan also proposes a Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund and the formation of a Digital Inclusion Action Committee (comprising industry, charity and academic voices). 

The government also invited a call for evidence, receiving about 800 responses from stakeholders, local authorities, businesses, charities, and individuals. The majority supported the plan’s four focus areas (78 per cent) and the five priority demographic groups; people on low incomes, older people, disabled people, those in rural areas, and individuals with low digital confidence or basic skills.

However, many respondents urged the government to recognise additional communities, including people with low English literacy, refugees, asylum seekers, those experiencing homelessness or insecure housing, and people in rural areas. Others called for a stronger focus on intersectionality, more accessible funding for smaller organisations, and locally driven approaches to delivery.

Responses

FutureDotNow, in its formal response, argues that by focusing on five population groups, the plan potentially underplays the need to build a modern digital society for all, rather than just fixing exclusion. 

Which?, in its submission, calls on the government to prioritise connectivity, affordability, and consumer understanding of telecoms markets, noting that unreliable connectivity remains a major barrier.

Age UK welcomed the plan as a moment to advance inclusion for older people, but insisted that offline access must remain a legal right, that is, services should not vanish simply because they move online.

INCLUDE+, a network of grassroots and community-oriented digital inclusion practitioners, has critiqued the Action Plan for lacking a stronger emphasis on co-design, sustainability, and community ownership. Their writing argues that inclusion must go beyond access and skills to ensure that empowered communities shape digital services themselves.

Meanwhile Digital Poverty Alliance hails the plan as a “bold step” to coordinate national action on digital exclusion for the first time in over a decade. 

The consensus in the sector is hopeful but cautious: the plan is welcome, but its impact will depend heavily on resourcing, measurement, and local execution.

Baked in, not bolted on

For the Good Things Foundation (GTF), the launch of the Digital Inclusion Action Plan was a genuine step forward after years of advocacy. Yet the organisation’s response struck a careful balance between optimism and urgency. In its February statement, GTF welcomed the government’s commitment but warned that progress will only be sustainable if digital inclusion is “baked in, not bolted on” to social policy. 

That phrase, now circulating widely across the sector, captures a persistent frustration: digital access and skills are still treated as optional rather than essential. To “bake in” inclusion, GTF argues, means embedding it across government and public services, so that access, affordability, and digital confidence are considered in everything from housing and healthcare to welfare, employment, and education.

As Dr Emma Stone told us last year, “Digital inclusion is a whole-of-society, whole-of-economy issue. Fixing the digital divide needs to be everyone’s business. Every service provider and policymaker has a part to play in making online services easier to use and in supporting people to connect safely and confidently.” 

That idea is echoed in several of GTF’s Five Policy Asks to Fix the Digital Divide, particularly its call for coordinated, cross-sector leadership and an end to the “postcode lottery” that leaves some communities far better served than others. The Foundation’s policy asks, also stress the importance of fair and affordable access to data and devices, alongside clear accountability and shared national measurement. 

From rhetoric to commitment

In its February analysis of the government’s plan, GTF warned that several key elements are still missing. It pointed to the need for a more future-focused vision that keeps pace with technological change, new approaches to funding and financing digital inclusion at scale, and greater clarity on the roles and interdependencies between government departments and committees charged with delivery. 

Taken together, the Foundation’s message is clear: real progress will depend on sustained leadership, consistent investment, and joined-up action across sectors. Without these, digital inclusion risks remaining a patchwork of local successes rather than a national achievement.

The challenge for policymakers is now one of permanence. The government has embraced the language of inclusion and established new mechanisms to deliver it. The test will be whether it can transform those promises into lasting frameworks that make digital access as fundamental as any other public service. Until then, as GTF has consistently argued, digital inclusion will remain a goal still waiting to be baked in.

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